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§ Wednesday, December 31, 2008 §
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POS Upgrade Time! - By: DomitianX @ 3:10:01 AM [ Computers ]
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I spent the last 5 hours upgrading the Point Of Sale system from 1.0 SP1Refresh to version 2.0.
A few notes about the upgrade. Just doing a straight upgrade of the 1.0 SP1 Refresh version seemed to go along fine. It upgraded to SQL 2005 Express, installed all the other magic widgets it needed and seemed to finish successfully. But for some reason whenever I went through the activation part, the activation window would just go away and I couldn’t complete the activation process. Either the "Over the Internet" or the "Phone" version. Both ways and the box would just go away.
Also, it didnt matter if I applied SP2 before I did the activation process or not.
I uninstalled the old version and did a "clean" install. When prompted I did not select to create a database on the POS machine, since my database is on a backoffice server I didnt want to waste the time setting up a new store, so I selected the option where the database was on another system. Same problem.
I uninstalled again, then reinstalled. This time I told it to create a database on the POS machine and I went through the whole create new database/store wizard. After the create new store wizard was complete, I was finally able to get through the activation process successfully.
At that point I was able to connect to the database on the other machine and get the system up and running.
So.... the moral of the story? Im not entirely sure. But it seems that if you already have POS installed and you want to upgrade, uninstall the old version and make sure you create some sort of test database/store on the POS machine so the activation process works right. For some reason it seems to require that it can work entirely on the local machine with the database being local before you can do the activation. Obviously YMMV, but that was my experience tonite.
I have done numerous installs of 2.0 on virgin machines during my testing period and it all worked as expected. It seems the upgrade process throws a big wrench into the mess.
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§ Saturday, March 29, 2008 §
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Linking Two MSPOS Systems - By: DomitianX @ 2:24:28 PM [ Computers ]
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This has to be the scariest thing about MS POS to me when we first got it. I was always told you needed to have RMS, instead because it was super complicated to connect them, it was flaky, etc so I never took the time to figure it out.
It turns out it is super simple.
1) Install MS POS on a computer in the back office and get the company setup on there.
2) Install MS POS on the POS hardware that you are going to use.
3) Change the connection option when it prompts you to logon.
Once I decided I needed to dive in a figure it out, the part that threw me was that all the documentation I read in the help file and online was that when you click the connection button, you enter the server, instance and database name. This isnt entirely accurate. You need to enter the server name and instance (if there is an instance) and then click OK. It will try to connect to the server and instance you specified and then it will prompt you for which database to connect to.
Once you have the POS system out front connected to the back office system, you can make inventory changes, run reports and all that from the back office computer without getting in the way up front. Makes life a lot easier, at least for us it did.
The back office computer doesnt need to be a POS system either. You can install the POS software on pretty much any computer that meets the minimum requirements. We pretty much only use the manager portion of it on the back office computer, but if we have an event or something, we will move the computer out front to give us another register to work with. I even have it setup on a laptop for remote working.
The only downside is that the back office computer needs to be up and running all the time since it holds the database. If you have to reboot it, or it crashes or something similar, your register out front wont work until it is available again. But that would be similar to any software that is setup in an multi tier architecture.
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Microsoft Point Of Sale - By: DomitianX @ 1:40:18 PM [ Computers ]
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When we opened up the skate shop a couple years ago we picked up Microsoft Point Of Sale 1.x to use for our cash register.
Over the last couple years I have stumbled around the web trying to find out info on how it works, customizations, etc and there is little to no info out there at all. It seems everyone is trying to be a consultant and wants you to pay for advice on the simple stuff.
I am going to start posting up tips and tricks as I stumble across them. They will also serve as an archive in case I forget something. I can look back to see how I did something.
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§ Thursday, January 17, 2008 §
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Free Bacon DVDs @ OSS - By: DomitianX @ 9:17:51 PM [ Skateboarding ]
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Colin sent me a grip of DVDs to throw in orders when we ship them. Its a killer DVD on semi-permanent rotation at the park right now.
Get One!
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Toast Skateboards @ OSS - By: DomitianX @ 8:13:24 PM [ Skateboarding ]
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Toast skateboards are now in stock @ OSS!
Get ’em here
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§ Wednesday, January 16, 2008 §
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Eric Clemenzi - By: DomitianX @ 2:07:30 PM [ Music ]
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I just stumbled across this guy on MySpace. Killer guitar player. Very musical and has some serious chops.
Check out his MySpace
I will be picking up his CD in the next couple days. Right now I have his MySpace songs going in constant repeat.
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§ Thursday, December 20, 2007 §
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New gear @ Old School Skaters - By: DomitianX @ 9:02:59 AM [ Skateboarding ]
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We received the new Creature OJ III Wheels, new ACE Trucks in the larger sizes, new Vans shoes and a lot more.
Stop by and pick some up today!
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I Will Live Forever... - By: DomitianX @ 8:53:10 AM [ Beer ]
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The old advertising slogan "Guinness is Good for You" may be true after all, according to researchers. A pint of the black stuff a day may work as well as an aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks. Drinking lager does not yield the same benefits, experts from University of Wisconsin told a conference in the US.
The Wisconsin team tested the health-giving properties of stout against lager by giving it to dogs who had narrowed arteries similar to those in heart disease. They found that those given the Guinness had reduced clotting activity in their blood, but not those given lager.
But...
A spokesman for Brewing Research International, which conducts research for the industry, said she would be "wary" of placing the health benefits of any alcohol brand above another.
She said: "We already know that most of the clotting effects are due to the alcohol itself, rather than any other ingredients. It is possible that there is an extra effect due to the antioxidants in Guinness - but I would like to see this research repeated."
Even though the research has been done and they have come to certain conclusions I plan to continue my own research.
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§ Thursday, September 08, 2005 §
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Its Been A While - By: DomitianX @ 9:54:34 AM [ Ramblings ]
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Man it’s been a while since I posted anything here. Life been crazy busy. The online shop is doing pretty good. I am never going to get rich by any means but its cool talking gear to people all over.
We are donating 15% of all sales to the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, or any other charity of your choosing, during the month of Sept. It wont be a lot of cash but it will be something. We all need to do our part and since I cant be down there in person this is the least I can do.
The OTC is going strong. I have been skating a ton lately. Once a week at Edina and once a week at 3rd for sure then random street skating and lunch sessions as much as possible. The snow will be flying soon so I need to get in as much outdoor skating as I can.
Dave LeRoux was out last night rocking a brand new OTC deck. Its pretty cool to see people riding those decks.
The Duane Peters demo is tonite at 3rd. Hopefully they will show up. Its rad to see that level of skating at a place you ride all the time. It opens up my eyes to new possibilities that I would have never seen. Not that I can pull half the shit DP can get it puts a bug in my ear though.
Maggie turns 7 on Sat. Man how times flies.
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§ Thursday, July 14, 2005 §
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I Wanna Be Somebody!!!! - By: DomitianX @ 7:57:18 AM [ Music ]
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I usually have my iPod cranked all day at work and when someone calls I just turn it down. Well I took a call yesterday and I never turned it back up so it played all night long with the volume turned down.
I get in this morning and relized iTunes is still playing so I turned it up and one of my favorite tunes of all time started. I wanna be somebody by WASP.
WASP was one of the most under-rated bands of the 80’s. The band was a drunken drug ridden mess, but they put out some killer tunes.
So today officially became the "I Wanna Be Somebody" day.
\m/
Rock on!
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